|
|
 |
|
| |
THE HISTORY OF THE COMPLEX |
| |
Kastelet-Crikvine, a former summerhouse of the Capogrosso family
built in the early 16th century, is situated in the vicinity
of the Ivan Mestrovic Gallery. Even though it was originally
built to be a holiday resort for the rich noble family from
Split and a possible shelter from Turkish attacks, it served
many other purposes throughout the course of history. At one
point it was rented and became a tannery, then a cloth dyers’
workshop, and for a while it was even a lazaretto for the victims
of plague. In 1939, Ivan Mestrovic bought the complex (by then
badly in need of repair) with the intention of converting this
property near his representative palace into a more intimate
space to be used for displaying his works. Soon after the purchase,
Ivan Mestrovic and the architect Harold Bilinic (who also helped
Mestrovic with his Split palace and a series of other architectural
projects) started with the adaptation, focusing on the west
part of the complex. |
| |
 |
Mestrovic interpolated The Holy Crucifix Church in the existing
structure of the complex, i.e. he reconstructed the west part
of the yard by building in a peristyle with a variant of Doric
columns. Mestrovic’s initial artistic response to the settings
amounted to five wooden reliefs of the future Christ-inspired
cycle and a big wooden crucifix. The sacral New Testament theme,
present from his early childhood artistic attempts, is very
important in Mestrovic’s work. However, he abandoned the theme
completely when he went to Vienna for studies. It reoccurred
in 1913, becoming the pivotal point of Mestrovic’s artistic
life and work.
|
| |
The making of the whole cycle of 28
wooden reliefs inspired by the life of Christ lasted
more than four decades, which makes it a unique phenomenon
of the twentieth-century art. The reliefs were placed
in The Holy Crucifix Church, consecrated and destined
for the service in the Old Slavic, which was Mestrovic’s
wish.
The whole Christ-inspired cycle, except for the reliefs
at the time deposited in Split, was first presented
to the public in 1950 in the Hendricks Chapel, College
of Fine Arts Syracuse University. It was then transported
to the artist’s homeland in 1953 and placed in The Holy
Crucifix Church the following year. Even though its
style and artistic quality are not uniform, the cycle
remains a completed unit in the corpus of Ivan Mestrovic’s
work and a unique phenomenon in the Croatian art history.
|
 |
|
| |
The east part of the Kastelet-Crikvine
complex with the older Chapel of Our Lady of Good Counsel and
an adjoining loggia with stone inventory, added during the adaptation,
is an integral part of the artist’s design and concept and should
be considered in the |
| |
  |
context of
the whole complex.
A combination of authentic building styles of the centuries
passed and recent sculptor’s interventions, perfectly
integrated into the Mediterranean landscape of the south
slope of Marjan, transformed the Kastelet-Crikvine complex
into a different, more intimate variety of the Split
experience.
|
|
|
